Subdued Soul Chronicle

‘I wasn’t sure about it, but for him to be actually here.’

It was something Seol Young only realized, but he was a bit confused.

Jeok Ryun and Mok Yun were walking around the tower in opposite directions. If they were heading towards the same place, they would have met.

But this was a different thing. It was a world created by them. So the two of them didn’t meet for a long time.

“To not find each other despite being this close…”

Hyo Wol sighed in shock.

“But it is odd. Why is Leader Mok Yun like that? Unlike Jeok Ryun-rang…”

“Because he isn’t an evil spirit. But it wasn’t that he stayed with people so he could suck away their life, so he ended up becoming weak over time.”

Seol Young answered.

Mok Yun’s spiritual body was weak since he had been walking around the tower for two hundred years.

It would have been difficult to find him if Seol Young hadn’t had an impulsive thought and gone in the opposite direction.

“It is amazing, what is left…”

Zaha carefully looked at Mok Yun’s translucent appearance, as if he would disappear at any moment.

“Stop for now.”

“Yes.”

Seol Young approached him.

Following the things he had learned from the Tomb Ghosts, he intervened in Mok Yun’s world as if he himself were a ghost.

“Leader Mok Yun.”

The man looked back at the voice that came suddenly, and this startled everyone.

Mok Yun’s energy was so calm, just like his tablet. However, his face was so haggard that they couldn’t make out his face, and they could only discern his eyes.

Why?

When they were still puzzled, a black tornado rose around the tower.

“Where is Mok Yun?”

Sounds of cursing, singing, and mad laughter ran out. They were eating away at Mok Yun’s soul.

As he continued to circle the tower, the curses, and evil energy were pushing on him.

Then Seol Young urgently said,

“Leader Mok Yun, we need to get you out of here first!”

But the moment he got closer, sparks burst between the two of them because of the red line around Seol Young’s neck.

Because that line contained Jeok Ryun’s killing intent, Mok Yun, with his weak soul, couldn’t endure it.

Zaha glanced at Seol Young and said,

“I will ask you one thing, but you aren’t connected with Jeok Ryun’s soul now, right?”

“Yes.”

“Right. it was interesting to be afraid to lose your head…”

He aimed his sword at Seol Young’s neck.

Zaha’s qi and Jeok Ryun’s collided with bursting sounds, and then the red mark around Seol Young’s neck pulled out. Then, strangely, it took on the shape of a lotus in the air.

Jeok Ryun finally couldn’t put Seol Young down, and everyone was shocked.

Baek Eon asked,

“How did you do that?”

“Well. Maybe I had come to understand Jeok Ryun-rang’s feelings a little bit?”

Zaha said while glaring at the red lotus in the air.

“I wonder how a normal person can understand the mind of a madman… ‘I killed you because I loved you. We tied ourselves in karma so that we would not be separated forever.’”

He could now see what she was thinking about.

Seol Young asked,

“And what could it be?”

“Isn’t the root of madness that suddenly makes you kill people actually fear? You are afraid of someone leaving you. If I kill you, I can make sure you don’t leave.”

At the same time, his sword pierced the center of the red lotus, creating a golden wave.

[Ack!]

The lotus flower shattered with a sharp scream. Jeok Ryun’s powerful attack was broken.

Seol Young felt relieved, as if he had been freed from shackles.

‘Actually, this is the one I believed in.’

The three hyungs’ expressions also said, ‘As expected…’ and they looked at Zaha with shining eyes.

Song Ok said quickly,

“Seol Young, try it again.”

“Yes.”

Seol Young approached Mok Yun’s faint soul.

“Leader, I want to help you. Tell us your story. Why have you been circling around this tower for two hundred years…”

Mok Yun, who was walking, looked back. He was too weak even to get a word out.

However, a haze rose around his spiritual body, as if he had the intention to show something.

Seol Young sent his spiritual power into the haze, and at that moment, the place around them changed.

Countless birds were flying.

[Wolves cannot become sheeps.]

An old man’s voice could be heard.

Soon, the place turned into a garden. And there was Mok Yun, surrounded by birds. A monk in golden robes was sitting next to him.

The monk was a State Teacher, who taught the Crown Prince. And he was also the one who taught Jeok Ryun swordsmanship.

[I tried my best to teach her swordsmanship, but her innate ferocity doesn’t suit it. If this continues, the nation will be harmed…]

His voice was stern.

“Having a hundred high priests trained in martial arts to remove the root of the problem is the way to save the living, I think.”

While stroking the white peacock on his lap, Mok Yun said,

[How can monks get blood on their hands? I will try it. I will try to subdue her ferocity and awaken her compassion.]

The Buddha’s teachings.

It also included not allowing one to kill oneself.

During the martial arts competition, Mok Yun opened his fan with such a thought and blocked Jeok Ryun’s sword.

Seol Young thought,

‘He is a lonely person.’

He did everything to enlighten her.

[When anger rises in your heart, take a step back.]

[Take a step back…?]

As a result of his efforts, Jeok Ryun began to change little by little.

[Today, I will use arrows without arrowheads. I cannot kill life just for fun. Isn’t that right, Mok Yun-rang?]

Compassion began to sprout in her desolate heart.

And Mok Yun was happy with the change. He would do anything to change her nature.

‘For a cause…’

It had been a long time since he had made a firm decision not to leave her side. And soon, the two of them had a child.

The little life chained Jeok Ryun’s heart to more compassion.

‘Even a wolf can become a sheep.’

Mok Yun saw hope. But all of that shattered in an instant.

The subordinates who always stayed with Mok Yun and had always kept close to him—Jeok Ryun found out that they were all spies.

Actually, there was an order from the King of Silla. The King had ordered Mok Yun to track down any spies.

However, Jeok Ryun, who wasn’t aware of that, became furious and slaughtered them.

She also ordered Mok Yun to be arrested, so he became angry, and she questioned him.

‘It wasn’t that…’

Mok Yun tried to prove his innocence by taking out the secret letter from the King from his robe. But then the figure of Jeok Ryun, which was stained with blood, came into his eyes.

‘Can’t a wolf become a sheep?’

He asked himself.

At first, he was angry, but little by little, his heart calmed down.

‘No.’

A wind turned the barracks upside down, and the candles fluctuated.

He suddenly felt pity as he looked at her, covered in blood and filled with confusion.

‘She was definitely changing, but my efforts were lacking.’

At the flickering lights, he thought.

‘If Jeok Ryun cannot control her furiousness, she will sooner or later kill me. Maybe this is my last chance to change her nature. If she kills me and sees the letter in my arms, she will realize how she had acted and feel bad.’

He decided to hold out with that one last hope.

He wanted to save her no matter what, and this was for herself and their soon-to-be-born child…

‘I hope it happens.’

To die without making excuses.

Puak!

Blood spurted out, and the vision was gone.

Mok Yun’s soul, which was too weak, watched it.

“That was the only way.”

Even though he couldn’t speak due to a lack of energy, his intentions came through.

[She must have changed after that. Will she become compassionate and a good person? Maybe even a good King? And will my child become a great person too?]

“…”

No one answered.

“It seems like she wasn’t the only one who fell into delusion.”

Baek Eon mumbled.

“They say it is for a good cause, but that wouldn’t have been all.”

“Right, Great-rang. I can tell by looking. Without love, no one would risk their life to save someone else.”

“Right. If there had been no love, there would have been no expectations for change either. And even as the curse was killing his soul, he wouldn’t have stayed around like that for two hundred years.”

Song Ok and Hyo Wol also whispered.

Zaha silently frowned

“In the end, they loved each other. It is because the method is too complicated for normal people to understand…”

Then his gaze turned to Mok Yun’s fragile soul.

“Should we speak to him?”

“It will be useless.”

Seol Young said.

“Being confined in his own world for two hundred years, even if we tell him it didn’t work. He might have already realized it…”

Mok Yun’s soul trembled… He was getting weaker as he used his energy to show his memories.

“I will end this for now.”

Seol Young quickly cast a reverse spell. This was the method he used when he rescued Dohwa from the dice curse.

After casting it, the space in the spirit world increased.

Instead of forcibly pulling out Mok Yun and shocking his body, it felt right to make the tower move out of track.

“Good.”

Baek Eon, Song Ok, and Hyo Wol protected Mok Yun’s soul.

As he got off the opposite path, Jeok Ryun’s voice could be heard.

[Ahhh…]

She was repeating the same thing as she was circling around the tower.

She lost her power after Zaha cut down the string, but she was still mad. She was deeply immersed in her own world, so no one could get close to her.

Seol Young looked back at Mok Yun.

“Do you see that ahead? It is Jeok Ryun-rang.”

However, there was no reaction. Hyo Wol looked at the two of them with a sad face.

“Despite being right in front of each other, you cannot see each other. Is there any better way?”

“A better way…”

Zaha looked around, and so did Seol Young.

And then it occurred to them.

Not just Seol Young. But everyone had the same thought.

Hwa Un.

“…”

Hwa Un lowered his fan and watched everything without saying a word. He had a blank look on his face as if he were unable to understand, but when everyone looked at him, he came to his senses.

“What?”

Instead of answering, Seol Young asked the others,

“Don’t Leader Mok Yun and Hwa Un-rang look a bit similar?”

“Right. I can now see that they have a lot of similarities. Being kind and loving birds…”

Baek Eon added.

“Strangely alike.’

“Without sharing blood.”

The Vermillion Bird Troops also joined in. And feeling a bit embarrassed, Hwa Un opened his fan.

“It is an honor to resemble him, and I respect him too…”

“Come over here. We don’t have time.”

Then they pulled him closer.

“Hwa Un-rang, you are our only hope. Make Jeok Ryun-rang see Mok Yun’s soul.”

“How?”

“Can’t we use that bet?”

Seol Young said.

“Just like how Leader Mok Yun fought her, you will block her with your fan.”

“…”

Hwa Un looked at Jeok Ryun.

Seeing her still mumbling with her gray hair fluttering, his face turned blank, but he came to his senses as everyone looked at him.

“I get it. I will try it out.”

As he moved to the tower, Hwa Un called out,

“Jeok Ryun-rang.”

Jeok Ryun turned her head, and she immediately pounced on him in rage.

At that moment, Hwa Un moved his fan.

He gracefully dodged the attack of the red lotus and dug between the gaps to block her.

“…?”

A strange emotion appeared on her face.

‘You…?’

It seemed as if she was asking that, and Hwa Un turned the fan at an odd angle.

It seemed like he was going to hit her, but then he changed his mind and threw an assassin’s needle in the air.

“Jeok Ryun-rang, look there.”

The silver needle shot out like snow and pointed in one direction. Mok Yun’s faint soul was standing there.

Seol Young asked,

“Do you know who that is?”

Her gaze went there. At first, her eyes didn’t seem to recognize who it was.

But then her gaze was nailed there, and her expression slowly changed. A look of shock flashed in her red eyes.